Chapter 491 : Proper Palace Intrigue (End)
Ever since that night, s.h.i.+ Sheng never saw Ming Jin again.
The leads still managed to run off.
s.h.i.+ Sheng merely wished to express that only villains who could beat the leads were allowed to call themselves true villains. Zhuang-fu deserved to just be cannon fodder.
Had she been in his shoes, she would’ve slaughtered the leads that very night. ‘I refuse to believe that someone would’ve dropped from the heavens or tunnelled out of the ground to rescue them.
…Okay, I guess that isn’t impossible.’
After all, luck was something that was invisible and intangible, yet very impressive.
Due to this major incident, no one even bothered to pay attention to when the Second Prince of Xi Liang left.
Of course, Zhuang-fu couldn’t ascend the throne. Since his s.h.i.+eld (s.h.i.+ Sheng) refused to do anything, Zhuang-fu could only push Yuwen Jing onto the throne.
All that drivel about helping the Third Prince avenge his grievances was just a bunch of b.o.l.l.o.c.ks. Zhuang-fu’s real motive was to control the court.
Yuwen Jing was but a child—what could he do to stop Zhuang-fu from using him as a puppet?
s.h.i.+ Sheng was still the State Teacher. The only thing she did all day besides eat was sleep; she’d already given up on doing quests.
#This is the first time I’ve(bxt) seen such a wilful Host#
Soon, another winter arrived.
s.h.i.+ Sheng stood at the peak of Star-Plucking Tower, looking in the direction of the commotion. ‘Never thought Ming Jin would’ve beaten the leads to taking the throne.’
In the short span of a year, the court had experienced two major disruptions.
s.h.i.+ Sheng pulled her cloak tighter around her. ‘Really cold.’
The first thing Ming Jin did upon his ascension was to clear the Third Prince’s name.
The second, was to proclaim that he was going to marry the Eldest Princess of Xi Liang.
s.h.i.+ Sheng had blanked out when she heard the news.
[Screwed yourself over now, huh?] System’s cold voice contained a hint of gloating.
s.h.i.+ Sheng merely experienced a flicker of surprise before returning to normal.
[……] ‘Is Host planning on killing Feng Ci and dying together?’
The entire palace was redecorated with red silk and the wedding procession gradually made its way from the Hall of Mental Cultivation to Star-Plucking Tower.
s.h.i.+ Sheng showed no signs of surprise.
[When did you find out?] System was clearly more agitated than s.h.i.+ Sheng.
“When I got the will.” s.h.i.+ Sheng watched as the wedding procession drew closer and closer.
The real child of the Third Prince was Ming Jin.
Back then, the Queen of Xi Liang had given birth to twins, a boy and a girl. For the sake of protecting their son, the royal couple had sent their daughter instead to Dong Jin as a hostage.
Because the Third Prince and the King of Xi Liang were secretly friends, he agreed to help them hide this.
But for the sake of protecting his own child, Ming Jin, the Third Prince had no choice but to swap their ident.i.ties.
Zhuang Qiong and Ming Jin were given a drug that caused red pimples to appear on their faces. It didn’t hurt that the two were around the same age and height.
The Third Prince said that this disease was contagious, so naturally, no one dared to get close enough to take a closer look.
Ming Jin was sent to Yunyin Temple under the guise of being the Xi Liang hostage, while Zhuang Qiong’s death was faked and she was sent to the Zhuang Family to return to being a girl.
And Weiyang Palace was the name of the palace belonging to the Eldest Princess of Xi Liang. Zhuang Qiong was the Eldest Princess of Xi Liang.
Ming Jin had known all along, yet he hadn’t said anything.
s.h.i.+ Sheng looked at the handsome man with completely foreign features below her, tugging her lips into a smile. ‘See? Even his looks were fake.’
[Host, calm down—it’s not like he had a choice.]
“What’re you so worried about? I didn’t even say anything.”
[……] ‘Then why do you have your sword out?’
Ming Jin wore red wedding clothes as he stood outside Star-Plucking Tower. The wedding procession attired in red against the backdrop of pure white snow appeared like blooming red plum blossoms
Ming Jin raised his head to look at s.h.i.+ Sheng, who was standing atop Star-Plucking Tower. ‘No matter what, I want her.’
s.h.i.+ Sheng leapt down, lightly landing on the courtyard wall.
“You already knew?” Ming Jin’s voice was a bit hoa.r.s.e. Unbeknownst to him, there was a hint of trembling in it.
s.h.i.+ Sheng smiled. “What do you think?”
“When did you find out?”
“I obtained a letter from Yulang Tower too.” Probably because Yuwen Mo was unable to ease his guilty conscience, he’d written this down.
Ming Jin was silent for a moment. “I will marry you today.”
“That depends on whether you have the ability.”
Ming Jin’s eyes hardened slightly and he was just about to order people to capture s.h.i.+ Sheng when countless arrows flew in from the outside like raindrops.
The sword in s.h.i.+ Sheng’s hand swung, causing a flash of sword light to appear, blocking the arrows.
The sword in her hand suddenly enlarged and s.h.i.+ Sheng stepped on it, rus.h.i.+ng to greet the onslaught of arrows.
“Zhuang Qiong!”
[Host!]
Two voices cried out at the same time, but s.h.i.+ Sheng didn’t hesitate in the slightest.
……
When s.h.i.+ Sheng returned to the System s.p.a.ce, she silently stood before the screen that was repeatedly displaying a scene.
Yuwen Xun led his men in a charge to kill Ming Jin.
s.h.i.+ Sheng defied the usual barrier and killed off Yuwen Xun, causing the world to suddenly start to crumble. It was a very shocking scene. As if someone had broken a mirror, the scene had collapsed into countless shards, after which darkness had rushed in and invaded the world.
The last thing s.h.i.+ Sheng saw was Ming Jin sprinting towards her. But as the last of the world was engulfed by darkness, she’d already been standing within the System s.p.a.ce.
[Host, due to your behaviour, you will spend 48 hours in confinement.]
s.h.i.+ Sheng twisted her neck, not speaking.
Her surroundings gradually changed till she found herself in a round room. It was completely empty. The walls were snowy-white, the kind that could give one snow blindness if they stared at it too long.
s.h.i.+ Sheng leaned against the wall and sat down. ‘Killing the ML caused the world to collapse. How interesting. And all I get for causing a world to collapse is 48 hours in confinement? And here I was wondering what terrifying punishment there’d be!’
System was currently pouring all its grievances out to its Master.
[Master, just look at her! Look at what she’s thinking! I can’t take it anymore.]
The figure on the screen was as blurred as always. “The information she shares with you is only what she wants you to know.”
[……] System thought back to the c.o.c.ky look on its host’s face when it tried to scan her that one time.
‘Recently she’s even starting to know my thoughts… This Host is simply about to ascend the heavens!’
[Master, why was she so against Feng Ci in this world?] ‘He’s clearly the same person, and she’s admitted she likes him, so why can’t she accept him? I really don’t understand my Host’s thoughts.’
“Because she’s afraid.”
‘Scared? Of what? Even she has something she’s afraid of?’ System was even more confused.
“She’s afraid she’ll fall for Feng Ci. That kind of Feng Ci holds a fatal attraction for her, but she’s too rational, so she extinguished that spark completely. Don’t pick targets like that for her anymore—the more you try and corner her, the more level-headed she’ll be.”
[……] ‘As reality proves, Host’s words are completely untrustworthy. Master really does understand her. *cries* Master, please protect me.’
After 48 hours, s.h.i.+ Sheng was released. System didn’t waste words and got straight to flas.h.i.+ng her stats.
人品值：-192000
积分：30000
Name: s.h.i.+ Sheng
Morality Points: -192,000
Life Points: 20 (due to causing the collapse of a world, Life Points have been halved)
Contribution Points: 30,000
Mission Rank: B
Mission Points: 40
Hidden Quest: Not completed
Hidden Quest Reward: None
Side Quest: Not completed
Side Quest Reward: None (deducted 4,000 contribution points)
Item List: “Queen’s Crown”, “Ghost King’s Heart”, “Dark Night”
As s.h.i.+ Sheng looked at her terrible stats, she sighed. ‘Morality points actually got lowered by about 30k. The ML’s life is really expensive. Though…killing him did feel quite good.’
[……] ‘Blackened Host is really scary.’
[Do you wish to enter the next mission?]
[Initialising transfer…]